From Wada's dictionary, 1933
Wada combination 323
Its colours, with the book's names: Cinnamon Buff · Madder Brown · Black · Citron Yellow. The values are the book's; the roles and advice are ours.
Adapted for screen
The same hue as the plate with the lightness moved to where an interface needs it: the background rests, the surface keeps the colour from the book and the accent earns the button. Each role says which colour it comes from and what was done to it. Click any to copy.
On a website
This is your colour with a whole screen to fill.
This paragraph is here so you can see real text on a real background, which is where half of the pretty palettes fall over. If it's hard to read, now you know. And this is a link.
A card
Secondary surfaces use the support colour. If it doesn't separate from the background, the hierarchy is gone.
Measured, before and after
On the plate, the best pair of colours reads at 12.9:1: AAA, reads with room to spare.
On screen, the text #242424 on the background #fff3e7 gives 14.2:1: AAA, reads with room to spare. APCA gives Lc 96: good for small text, the kind you read a paragraph of.
The accent #651300 stands 11.7:1 from the background (a button needs 3:1) and as a link reaches 11.7:1 (a word needs 4.5:1).
How to use it
- Proportion
Distribute, don't equalise: #fff3e7 on 60% of the screen, #ffbf6e on 30% (cards, bands, headers) and #651300 on 10%, only on buttons and links. A colour loses force the more surface it covers; what looks intense on the plate softens at full screen.
- Text
Body text goes in #242424, a near-neutral ink tinted with the palette's hue, even though the plate had a pair that read: a saturated colour as text tires by the third line. The book's colour enters through the heading, in #000000, where size forgives.
- The button
The accent #651300 stands 11.7:1 apart from the background: it works as a button, with text in #fcf5ef.
- Temperature
All warm: close and unified, but to make something stand out don't rely on colour, rely on light: the important thing darker or lighter than its surroundings.
- How many
Four colours demand discipline: #ffbf6e and #000000 are the base, the other two are detail. If in doubt, drop the support colour before the accent.
- In the dictionary
In the dictionary it sits among the tone-on-tone sets: colours from one family. Hierarchy comes from light, not hue, so order elements from lightest to darkest. It is one of the mixed-light ones: it already brings hierarchy. Keep it on screen: lightest at the back, darkest in front.
Goethe's reading
What this combination conveys, and why.
Wada tells you which colours go together. Goethe, a century earlier, explains why a combination means something or means nothing, and what each colour does depending on how much of the screen it takes. His circle has six colours and three oppositions, and every verdict below carries the paragraph it comes from.
The whole palette sits on the active side of the circle: the colours that advance, warm and push outward.
- Surface · orange
Orange fills a surface with energy and never lets go. It works if the rest of the palette keeps quiet; otherwise it tires before the first screenful is over.
- Accent · orange
Orange in a small patch is the accent that needs no explaining: it advances, it is seen, and it does not need size to do it.
- Same sector
Both fall in the same sector of the circle. There is no hue contrast, so whatever separates them will have to be lightness.
- With a neutral
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy.
- Adjacent
Adjacent on the circle, with no colour between them to keep them apart. They are saved by proportion: one has to lead and the other to follow.
- With a neutral
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy.
- Adjacent
Adjacent on the circle, with no colour between them to keep them apart. They are saved by proportion: one has to lead and the other to follow.
- With a neutral
Next to black, a colour from the active side gains energy.
#ffbf6e and #a6d40d are neighbours on the circle and only 2 points of lightness apart. This is the failure Goethe describes without naming it: well-chosen colours placed at the wrong value. They vibrate, and neither can be read on top of the other.
The kit for building it
A brand needs four colours; an interface needs a good deal more. This is what you'd otherwise invent by hand once you take four hex codes into the editor.
- 50#fff4f1
- 100#ffe6de
- 200#ffccbd
- 300#f4ad99
- 400#e38d74
- 500#ce6e54
- 600#af553d
- 700#8d402c
- 800#6b2d1d
- 900#651300
- 50#f8f6f5
- 100#eeeae9
- 200#dcd6d4
- 300#c5bcba
- 400#aba19e
- 500#928683
- 600#786d6a
- 700#5e5552
- 800#463e3c
- 900#2e2927
- Normal
- Hover
- Pressed
- Disabled
- Focus
- Success
- Warning
- Error
- Info
The same colour, at night.
The background isn't pure black: it carries a little of your hue. That's what separates a designed dark mode from one that looks like a fault.
A button/* Wada combination 323 — bluenze.com/paletas */
:root {
--fondo: #fff3e7;
--superficie: #ffbf6e;
--texto: #242424;
--tinta: #242424;
--texto-suave: #636363;
--titular: #000000;
--acento: #651300;
--acento-texto: #fcf5ef;
--enlace: #651300;
--borde: #e1cfbc;
--apoyo-1: #a6d40d;
/* la lámina de Wada, tal cual */
--lamina-1: #ffbf6e;
--lamina-2: #651300;
--lamina-3: #000000;
--lamina-4: #a6d40d;
--acento-50: #fff4f1;
--acento-100: #ffe6de;
--acento-200: #ffccbd;
--acento-300: #f4ad99;
--acento-400: #e38d74;
--acento-500: #ce6e54;
--acento-600: #af553d;
--acento-700: #8d402c;
--acento-800: #6b2d1d;
--acento-900: #651300;
--neutro-50: #f8f6f5;
--neutro-100: #eeeae9;
--neutro-200: #dcd6d4;
--neutro-300: #c5bcba;
--neutro-400: #aba19e;
--neutro-500: #928683;
--neutro-600: #786d6a;
--neutro-700: #5e5552;
--neutro-800: #463e3c;
--neutro-900: #2e2927;
--boton: #651300;
--boton-encima: #461200;
--boton-pulsado: #151515;
--boton-apagado: #7c6c67;
--foco: #8c1803;
--exito: #377b37;
--aviso: #a08a34;
--error: #af503e;
--info: #0f70b9;
}
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--fondo: #2d1e1a;
--superficie: #3d2a24;
--borde: #59413b;
--texto: #f8ebe8;
--tinta: #f8ebe8;
--texto-suave: #bbaeaa;
--acento: #dd7b60;
--acento-texto: #2d211e;
}
}